The Word I Hate the Most

There’s one word I hate more than any other word.

I wish I could remove it from the face of the earth. Blot it out from every book, article, and mind on the plant.

It’s a word I’ve eliminated from my own vocabulary. It’s the word that’s been responsible for my deepest fears and darkest moments.

It’s a word that is responsible for virtually all of my unhappiness.

It destroys my gratitude. It instantly brings on feelings of sadness, envy, and depression.

Eliminating this word changed my life. And it might change yours too.

What word?

Deserve.

I can’t even stand writing it. I want to move my cursor up and erase it.

When I graduated college and stuck out on my own, I thought the world owed me. I’d spent years in school. I’d behaved. I’d saved money. I followed all the “wise” advice.

And I was convinced I deserved good things.

That took me to a spot in my life where I was always stressed. I was borderline depressed. Unhappy. And ungrateful. Why wasn’t I getting what I thought I deserved?

I thought I deserved good things. I thought they were owed to me.

But I don’t.

I don’t deserve an amazing family like I have.

I don’t deserve to date the girl I’m dating.

I don’t deserve the friends I have.

I don’t deserve my business.

I don’t deserve the opportunities I’ve been given.

I don’t deserve health.

I don’t deserve my home.

I don’t deserve my next heartbeat.

I don’t deserve any of it.

Have I worked hard for it? Yes.

But I don’t deserve it.

As a Christian, Scripture teaches we deserve death.

That’s it. Death.

That’s what we deserve.

So all the good things in my life – family, friends, relationships, professional success, resources – it’s all extra.

It’s a bonus. It’s gravy.

In fact, you and I don’t even deserve to be alive right now.

The likelihood of you becoming a person is something like 1 in 400 Trillion. Those are unfathomable numbers.

We don’t deserve to be here.

But we are.

And isn’t that amazing? Isn’t it just amazing to be alive? To have all the things you have?

To have your friends and family? To have your job? To have your next heartbeat?

Here’s the secret: If you think you deserve something, not only are you wrong. But it’s also keeping you from being grateful.

If you want to make the most out of your days, your weeks, your months, and your years, you have to be grateful.

Suddenly all the good things are truly gifts. Gifts that you don’t deserve. Gifts that I don’t deserve

And all the bad things? They’re still tough. But just remember: You didn’t deserve any of the good things to start with.

For 2018, I’m going to be grateful.

Join me?